She's sitting with her legs criss-cross on the chair, her books scattered on the table, and paper and pen in her hands. Her hair is in a messy bun with strands escaping the hair tie. She's wearing sweatpants and a tee. God she looks so beautiful.
I contemplated going up to her. We're only on a first name basis and here I am staring at her ever so often. I couldn't help it. She was beautiful. The kind of beauty you couldn't believe was real. She was like an angel.
Suddenly I felt my legs moving and I notice that I was walking towards her. While my heart was encouraging my legs to keep moving, my brain was telling me to stop in my tracks. I make it to her table and froze. Great, what a way to make an impression.
She looked up at me, sensing my presence, and smiled. "The seat is available you know."
"I was hoping you would say that." I smiled back and took a seat. Wow, I can't believe I made it this far.
"You're Lucas, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
She smiled at me again. I could get used to that. "Oh, I'm Riley."
"I know. I mean, uh, I remember from the last time we talked."
Smooth, Friar. I mentally wanted to bang my head against the wall. She giggled at my response. I bet she could see right through me; with eyes like those I bet she could see through anybody. She could see everyone's souls. She's an angel. I had to keep reminding myself not to stare so she wouldn't think I'm a creep.
"So what are you studying?" She asked politely.
You, I thought. "Uhm, just some Math I'll probably never use." There was that laugh, I smiled so wide I must have looked like a dork. "What about you?"
"Political Theories. I have a midtest coming up."
"You like the class?"
"Yeah, it's alright. I like when we have discussions. Then I can hear other opinions that are no my own. Sometimes I have to knock myself down and realize I don't have all the right answers, you know?"
"Yeah." A silence fell between us. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but I wanted to talk to her. I didn't want to be on this first name basis. I wanted to know her, wholly. I want to know what makes her smiles, what makes her tick, and what makes her laugh.
Her phone starts buzzing on the table. She grabs it quickly and smiles down at her phone. A big grin. I wish I could make her smile like that.
She looks up at me. "Sorry, I'm going to have to cut this study meet short. Why don't you give me your number and we can do this again sometime?" She hands me her phone and I typed my number in. "I'll text you soon, okay?" She packed up all her belongings and started walking out the library.
My gaze followed her to the doors where she met another guy. She put her arms around his neck and started kissing him. I quickly looked away. I don't know why but my heart feels like it sunk to my stomach. I quickly gather my stuff and used the other exit of the library to go to my dorm.
X
I regretted not getting her number. Two weeks. I think I would've gotten the courage to text her by now, but I didn't have her number. She had mine. So I just had to wait. I had only seen her around a few times in those two weeks and in those two weeks she was always with a petite blonde or what I'm assuming is her boyfriend.
I guess this is a good thing. She looks so happy when she's with him. That look on her face is so precious, it doesn't even matter that I'm not the reason why she is so happy. They're a cute couple. Not as cute as we would be but hey, they're still cute. Maybe this is a sign that this is all a fantasy I made in my head and I should just let it go.
I shake my head. I'm thinking too much about someone who probably doesn't think about me at all. I need fresh air. I take my jacket and start walking around the quad. It's fall in New York, which means it's chilly but not dead cold. This is just a little snippet of how cold it can get. I wander around aimlessly, trying to get Riley out of my head when I hear stifled sobs. At first I ignore them, but the person starts crying so I follow to the sound of the crying. My eyes lay on the body of a broken angel.
"Are you okay?" Face palm. Of course she isn't okay, Friar.
She looks up quickly at me. I startled her; I guess her crying covered the sound of my footsteps. She started getting up, brush the tears from her face with her hand. "I'm fine, thank you."
She starts to walk away past me, but I grab onto her arm. "No, you aren't. People do not cry for no reason."
"Why do you care? What's it to you if I'm crying?"
"I just don't think a beautiful girl like yourself should be sad. People like you deserve to be happy all the time."
She scoffed. "Yeah well we don't always get what we deserve."
I might have been pushing her, but I wanted to help her. I couldn't help it. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. What I want is for you to let me go and let me leave."
I resisted the urge to keep her in my hand. I didn't want her to leave. I wanted her to stay and tell me all her problems until they withered away.
I let go of her arm. "I'm sorry. I just thought you needed someone to talk to."
"Well, you thought wrong." She walked right past me and headed towards the dining hall. So much for getting Riley out of my head.
X
I was pacing back and forth in my dorm replaying the moments with Riley that took place earlier today. Was there something I did wrong? Did I push her too much? Suddenly I feel my phone vibrate.
"Wanna talk?"
I frowned. I didn't know the number that the text came from. The phone vibrates once more.
"Oh it's Riley btw"
My heart started to pound. The text I have been waiting so patiently for the last two weeks was finally here. Maybe I should reply before I lose her interest.
"Sure. Where?"
"Do you mind if I come to your dorm?"
"Sure. My dorm is on the fifth floor, door 515."
"Be there in 5 :)"
Woah. That just happened. I take a seat in bed wondering what I do with myself for the next 5 minutes. I take a look around my room and realize it's a complete mess. Honestly, how could I live like this? I start picking up dirty socks, t-shirts, pants and stuff them all under my bed. I make my bed. Why is she coming here anyways?
Knock knock
Breathe Friar. She's just a girl. I open the door and see the Angel and her brightly colored wings in front of me.
"Hi," She says.
"Hey."
She smiles. God, she was so precious. "Can I come in?"
"Oh of course. My bad." She moved past me and landed on my bed. She laid down and made space for me to lay next to her.
"How did you know that was my bed?"
"Lucky guess. You joining me?"
I go lay next to her on my bed. We aren't touching or anything but having her presence there was soothing. She was a wave a good vibes, something I'm not used to. I'm facing her looking at her face trying to make sense of this whole situation, but she's in her own world. I hope one day I can be apart of that world.
"You're probably wondering why I'm here. Well, I realized what a bitch I was to you earlier. I'm sorry. That's so unlike me. I just" she sighs, "I was very upset."
"So why are you here right now?"
"What do you mean?"
I sat up, still keeping eye contact with her. "I mean if this is just about apologizing you could've apologized via text."
She follows my lead and sits up. "I guess you're right. There is another reason why I came here."
"I'm all ears."
"Well, I see the way you look at me. No one has ever looked at me that way. Not even my boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend now I guess. I just want to know what you're thinking when you look at me."
I look away from her. So the fact that I'm in love with this girl is so obvious she can see it. Great. I start playing with my hands. Well no denying it now. "The truth?"
She nodded. "When I look at you I see an angel. I can see your wings and the halo over your head. I knew from the moment I saw you that you are special. I don't really know why. But I knew that I wanted you to be happy and I somehow wanted to be the reason for that happiness. I know I must sound crazy-"
"You don't sound crazy. I know that you're sincere." She touches my chin and forces me to look at her directly in the eye. "I feel the same way about you. I don't know what it is but I know that I want you there by my side."
I can feel a smile creep on my face. "No one has ever said that about me."
"Well, no one looks at me the way you do so let's call it even."
I nod. "What now?"
She lays back down. She pats the spot next to her. "We enjoy each other's presence and see where this goes."
This time, I knew I'm grinning. I lay down next to her. She crawls up to me and places her head on my chest. I rest my arm around her. I finally have my angel in my arms. I'm never going to let her go. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I chuckled a bit to myself before I let myself close my eyes, bringing Riley closer to me.
A/N: Hello everyone! So this story is loosely based off the song Angel by the Weeknd. I have mixed feelings about this one so let me know what you think! Thank you so much for reading!
